The present invention relates to a switch control device capable of controlling drives of power windows and side mirrors of a vehicle by operating a plurality of switches on a switch panel.
Reference document, JP 11-96853 (hereinafter referred to as document 1) discloses a conventional switch control device provided with a plurality of switches for operating a power window and a power side mirror of a vehicle, which is formed as a part of a master switch panel disposed on the driver's seat side and comprises a mode selector switch 13 for changing the control mode from “power window” to “power side mirror” and vice versa and a multifunction switch 12 for selecting a window and adjusting a viewing angle of the side mirror as shown in FIG. 3. This device is intended to operate the power window and power side mirror with the reduced number of switches.
The multifunction switch 12 comprises a push button switch portion 121 (individual switch) disposed at the center and a multi-directional switch portion 122 arranged at 8 peripheral positions, which are to operate into 8 directions (front/rear, left/right and four diagonal directions). A switch 14 is used for opening/closing a power window. A switch 16 is used for retarding a mirror and a switch 17 is used for locking/unlocking a door. A switch 18 is used for locking/unlocking a window.
When the control mode selector switch 13 is pressed to select the “power window” mode and the central switch portion 121 is then pushed down, all windows are selected to be operated. When the multi-directional switch portion 122 is pressed to tilt for example frontward, left and right windows of the front seats are selected to be operated. When the switch portion 122 is pressed to tilt in the front right direction, the right window is selected to be operated. The selected window can be opened or closed by operating the window closing/opening switch 14.
When adjusting a power side mirror, the control mode selector switch 13 is pushed for sequentially changing the control mode from the power window control mode to the power side mirror control mode, the selector switch 15 is pressed to select a left or right side mirror and then the multi-directional switch portion 122 is pressed to tilt in a desirable direction for adjusting viewing angle of the selected mirror.
A ventilation switch is separately provided for causing all power windows to be opened to a specified degree for ventilation.
In the conventional switch control device for a vehicle, the multifunction switch 122 comprises two separate selector switch portions, i.e., the center pushbutton switch portion 121 for selecting all power windows and the circumferentially disposed multi-directional switch portion 122 for selecting each of the windows or adjusting the viewing angle of each of the mirrors by pushing the switch portion to tilt in a desirable of 8 directions (front, rear, left, right and four diagonal directions) and which therefore has a complicated construction.
The control mode selector 13 is separately provided, which has to be operated to select a power window control mode or power side mirror control mode before operating a switch for driving a power window or a power side mirror.
This does not only decrease the efficiency of switch control operation of the power windows and power side mirrors but also increase the number of switches on the master switch panel.
In addition, the provision of a separate ventilation switch on the master switch panel further increases the number of switches and complicates the operation of the master switch panel.